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Updated: Apr 21, 2026
Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Evaluation of a German version of the tonsil and adenoid health status instrument
Teresa Steinbichler1, Birte Bender1, Elisabeth Blassnigg2
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Medical University of Innsbruck, Anichstr 35, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria.
Background:
To create and validate a German version of the Tonsil and Adenoid Health Status Instrument (TAHSI) for evaluation of tonsillectomy outcome in adult patients with chronic or recurrent tonsillitis.
Subjects And Methods:
46 healthy volunteers were assessed twice in a 6 week interval with the TAHSI questionnaire. Their results were compared with 45 patients suffering from chronic tonsillitis before tonsillectomy and 6 months following surgery. For internal consistency, Cronbach's alpha was calculated; to identify normal score values, the optimum cutoff between healthy and diseased individuals was identified with receiver operating characteristic analysis; and responsiveness was assessed using Guyatt's Responsiveness Index (GRI).
Results:
Cronbach's alpha for all questions was 0.92. Test- retest intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.89 (95% confidence interval 0.80-0.94 p < 0.001). Mean score for the healthy individuals was 7.0 (95% confidence interval 4.2-9.7). The optimum cut off score between healthy and diseased was 20 with a sensitivity of 80% and a specificity of 90% to differentiate controls from tonsillectomy patients.
Conclusion:
The TAHSI performed well in this validation tests and is considered a favorable instrument to evaluate the effectiveness of tonsillectomy in adults with chronic or recurrent tonsillitis.
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